Captain Son Heung-min scored his 30th international goal while young midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong netted his first, as South Korea beat Iraq 3-0 in their World Cup qualifying match in Doha on Tuesday. Midfielder Lee Jae-sung opened the scoring in the first half for the clean sheet victory at Thani bin Jassim Stadium, helping South Korea extend their undefeated streak to six matches in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. With 14 points from four victories and two draws,

South Korea's large companies increased their investments by more than 7 percent in the first nine months of this year as part of efforts to find future growth engines despite the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. Combined capital spending by 336 out of the country's top 500 businesses came to 124.4 trillion won ($105 billion) in the January-September period, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, according to CEO Score. Firms in information and technology, electric and el

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) has threatened to conduct a parliamentary investigation into the finance ministry for underestimating this year's surplus tax revenue, ratcheting up pressure on the government to endorse the DP presidential nominee's push to provide universal COVID-19 relief funds. DP floor leader Rep. Yun Ho-jung said during a YTN radio interview Tuesday that this year's excess tax revenue is expected to reach 50 trillion won ($42.2 billion), which is 19 trillion won more than

WASHINGTON -- South Korea's vice foreign minister held talks with his US counterpart and discussed ways to bring North Korea back to dialogue, including the possible declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. During the 60-minute talks in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday (local time), South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also discussed the alliance and other issues of common intere

South Korea's military plans to administer extra COVID-19 shots to its fully vaccinated personnel starting next week, officials said Wednesday, amid a surge in the country's daily virus counts. Around 3,000 military medical personnel will first get an extra jab of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine starting Wednesday next week, a defense official said. The military also plans to administer booster shots on some 500,000 troops starting January as well. The move comes amid a continued rise in the numbe

South Korea will cut the dosage interval between primary vaccination and COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for senior citizens in a move to curb breakthrough infections and serious cases amid worries over virus upticks, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday. Booster shots for people aged 60 or older and nursing hospital patients can be administered four months after they received their last dose, while those in their 50s can get extra jabs five months after their primary COVID-19 vaccination,

WASHINGTON -- North Korea is one of key areas where the United States and China can and should work together, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday. Sullivan also reiterated US commitment to dialogue with the reclusive North. "Of course, we have seen a series of tests by North Korea. The United States has indicate we are prepared to engage in good faith and diplomacy if North Korea is prepared to do the same," he said, referring to recent missile tests by the North

The chief of the state watchdog on personal information protection has apologized for the recent leak of personal information of 181 petitioners involved in a Facebook personal data breach case. The Personal Information Protection Commission mistakenly sent the personal information of all 181 petitioners to 19 of them earlier this month. The commission has been arbitrating between the petitioners and Facebook over the social networking service's unauthorized leak of their personal data. "

Samsung Electronics Co. appears to be moving closer to making a final decision on the site for its new chip fabrication plant in the United States, as global semiconductor companies have engaged in increasingly fierce competition amid a global chip crunch. The South Korean tech giant was found to have withdrawn its application filed in January with Manor Independent School District (ISD) in Travis County, Texas, for corporate tax incentives regarding its new chip plant, the Texas comptroller's

South Korean stocks inched down Tuesday as investors digest the results of video talks between the presidents of the United States and China. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 2.31 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 2,997.21 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 567 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($8.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 547 to 304. Foreigners bought a net 241 billion won, wh

Twenty-six people have been apprehended on charges of smuggling illegal drugs from Southeast Asia and distributing them across the country, police said Tuesday. Police also caught 45 others who purchased drugs from the dealers of a drug trafficking ring. Of the total of 71 suspects, 22 were formally arrested. The dealers were found to have smuggled methamphetamine, synthetic cannabinoids and other narcotics from unidentified Southeast Asian countries from May last year to August by hiding them

SK Inc., the holding company of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, said Tuesday it is in the final talks to invest in a US gene therapy company, in its latest move to expand its foothold in global biopharmaceuticals.  SK said it plans to sign a formal deal soon with the Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM), a Philadelphia-based contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO), before the end of this year. Details on the terms of the investment were not available. With

A proposed conversion of industrial-use urea or urea solution into vehicle-use solution is impossible right now, a state-run laboratory said Tuesday, dashing hopes for an early end to the nation's acute shortage of the chemical compound. The National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) under the Ministry of Environment said it has tentatively concluded it is difficult to convert industrial urea or urea solution for use by diesel-fueled vehicles to cut emissions. South Korea has been mak

The parliamentary defense committee on Tuesday sharply cut the Navy's 2022 budget for the country's first light aircraft carrier, giving a red light to the military shipbuilding project. The defense ministry requested 7.18 billion won ($60 million) for next year's budget to build the country's first light aircraft carrier, but the committee only approved 500 million won, questioning its feasibility. "We respect the Navy's opinion, but this is something that should not be done in a hurry,&

Transactions among affiliates of South Korea's large business groups fell in 2020 from a year earlier on tough regulations, the antitrust regulator said Tuesday. The value of inter-affiliate transactions by 2,182 units of 71 large business groups amounted to 183.5 trillion won ($155 billion) last year, down 13.2 trillion won from 196.7 trillion won the previous year, according to the Fair Trade Commission. Such deals accounted for 11.4 percent of all business contracts clinched by them last ye